Mother, artist, teacher, education activist, former NJ State Legislature candidate, that teacher in that Chris Christie You Tube video, writing about education, poverty, politics, women's issues, social justice and living in a world gone strange.

Monday, March 31, 2014

Note to Gov. Christie: Those who live by the accountability sword will die by the accountability sword.

From the moment he was sworn in four years ago, Gov.
Christie has been on a personal jihad against public education, unions and
teachers. Labeling us “greedy” and “selfish”, and our apartheid schools in
high-poverty districts as “failure
factories”, he’s done everything possible to brainwash the general public
into thinking our schools are overrun with bad teachers who must be held accountable.

He succeeded in getting a new evaluation system passed (my
district uses Danielson)* that now tracks every pencil stroke of a student
against their teacher. No stone is left unturned as administrators evaluate
everything from how a teacher greets her students at the door, to whether
students are able to solve their own social problems. And forget about
expecting to be found ‘highly effective’ (a score of 4 on a 1-4 scale). Every
teacher in New Jersey has been spoon-fed the mantra, “live in 3; vacation in
4”. To be highly effective, students pretty much have to teach themselves and
solve their own problems. So, if you are a highly effective teacher, you
essentially teach yourself into obsolescence. And yea, that’s totally
reasonable, especially with kindergarteners.

Oh Charlotte, what have you done?

But no matter how hard teachers are trained in the new
evaluation system, there are some things in our students’ lives that are simply
beyond our control; that not even the best teacher in the world can fix.

WE CAN’T STUFF KNOWLEDGE INTO KIDS’ HEADS WHEN THEIR HOME LIVES
ARE DYSFUNCTIONAL!

But for no-excuses Christie, that’s no excuse. Teachers must
be held accountable! It’s our fault kids struggle to learn because they’re
poor. It’s our fault their parents are going through a bitter divorce that
keeps them up at night with worry. It’s our fault they have an undiagnosed
learning disability. If we can just hold teachers to unreasonable standards,
slash their budgets, and test kids til their brains turn to Jello, we will banish those bad teachers once
and for all!

And while Gov. Christie gets to hire his staff, I, on the
other hand, have no choice which students I teach. I MUST take them all
regardless of what baggage they bring with them, and yet I MUST be held
accountable for their academic performance.

Well, those who live by the accountability sword will die by
the accountability sword. Gov. Christie unleashed the accountability monster,
so it’s time for him to have a taste of his own medicine: he must be held
accountable for Bridgegate.

Gov. Christie, you are accountable to the people of New
Jersey for surrounding yourself with a bunch of —(to use a word you admitted
your mother used, and you
called Assemblyman Reed Gusciora)—‘numbnuts’.

You are accountable to the people of New Jersey for hiring
not one… not two… not three… but four incompetents. Talk about a failure
factory! You hired them. You created a work environment that fostered this type
of behavior. That speaks volumes about your ability not only to lead a state
but—heaven forbid—a nation. I can just see it:

“Hey, Mr. President, that despot dictator won’t back down, so
we created some traffic problems on his border with some Bradleys.”

It doesn’t matter that you looked at the camera all puppy
dog-eyed and sad and told Diane
Sawyer,

“I’m certainly disappointed in myself that I wasn’t able to
pick up these traits in these people. I’m disappointed in myself that I didn’t
look closer, that I trusted too much.”

You are accountable.

It doesn’t matter that a bogus investigation, paid for with
$1 million of taxpayer money, exonerated you and slut-shamed
Bridget Anne Kelly. You, sir, are accountable for her actions. (Oh, and can I
deduct my portion of that $1 mil from my income taxes ‘cause I’d really like a
refund.)

You must be held accountable for the millions of people who were
late for work or school, and for the ambulance that could not answer a call in
a timely manner because of your poor judgment. Four people behaved horrendously
because of your poor judgment.

The buck stops with you, Governor. You can point your finger
all you want. You can spray yourself with Teflon all you want. You can
trash Bridget Kelly and deny being friends with David Wildstein all you want,
but they didn’t act in a vacuum.

‘I didn’t know’ is right up there with ‘the dog ate my
homework’. You are ineffective. You need to go.

* If anyone has a link to the Danielson rubric that shows
all the domains, please send me the link. I’ve only been able to find a PDF.